


Surprise Winter

by Mousek



Category: American Girls: Kit - Various Authors
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Ice Skating, Misses Clause Challenge, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28268520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mousek/pseuds/Mousek
Summary: Ruthie and Jack Frost collaborate to give Kit a wonderful surprise.
Relationships: Kit Kittredge/Ruthie Smithens
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Surprise Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rinadoll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinadoll/gifts).



> Thanks to xslytherclawx for betaing! And thanks to rinadoll for such lovely prompts - your prompts alone created such a wonderful atmosphere, I knew I had to write for it.

Kit woke up to loud footsteps on her attic stairs. As a birthday present to her, Stirling had promised to do all of Kit’s chores for a day. Mother didn’t usually like it if Kit tried to find a way to avoid her responsibilities, but Kit thought she loved Stirling’s birthday idea. It was a reminder that the most thoughtful gifts didn’t need to cost money.

“Kit! Kit!” Ruthie ran to her bed, and shook her. “Look outside!”

“But it’s so cold!” Kit snuggled deeper under her covers, burying herself up to her nose. “It’s supposed to be springtime.”

“Yes, it’s cold. But look outside! That’s a good thing!”

“I’m supposed to be able to sleep in today,” Kit mumbled.

“That’s it,” Ruthie said. She pushed Kit’s blankets down so that she could grab Kit under the shoulders and _haul_ her out of bed. She stumbled backwards underneath Kit’s almost-limp weight, catching herself on the alcove wall. 

Kit finally opened her eyes, and Ruthie turned her to face the window.

“Ruthie! It _snowed_!”

“I told you it was good that it was so cold! And you’re free all day! It’s like a special birthday present from Jack Frost!”

“Give me just a minute to get dressed and then let’s go outside.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

Ruthie kindly made Kit’s bed, and then sat bouncing on the edge of it while Kit pulled on her warm clothes - including the new coat, hat, and mittens that her friends and family had made her at the start of the winter.

Kit grabbed an apple from the kitchen on her way outside — she had missed breakfast — and ate it with one hand as Ruthie dragged her outside by the other. 

“Ruthie! Let me finish eating something!”

“You can eat while we walk! But everything looks so beautiful again under this fresh snow. Let’s go exploring before it turns all slushy and brown.”

Kit never could resist an invitation to go exploring. Especially not from Ruthie, especially not when her eyes were gleaming with mischievous plans and with the reflection the pure blue sky and crisp white ground. 

Or, it was crisp until Kit flopped down in it, letting the piles of powder catch her. The arm with the apple was spread out, as if to make a snow angel. The other tugged Ruthie until the other girl tumbled down in the snow with her. 

Kit rolled over, propping herself up on her elbows. “Oh, this is so nice. We have to put this snowstorm in our newspaper later today. This is the best birthday present I could hope for.”

“Yes, but come with me! I have _plans.”_

“Plans?”

“Yes!” Ruthie bounced to her feet. “And you’re going to love them.”

“Where are we going?”

“Just trust me.”

Ruthie led her through the streets, willing to stop and look in shop windows, or to watch birds flying overhead, but clearly with an agenda and a goal. Soon, they were passing the entrance to school. Kit stumbled as Ruthie cut in front of her, leading her towards the building.

“School? You’re not taking me to school, are you?”

“No,” Ruthie said. “I’m taking you to a magical pond, formed by the Winter Queen behind the school so the two of us can go ice skating, just us.”

Kit’s eyes lit up as she realized the magical pond Ruthie was talking about, and then her face fell again. “But I don’t have ice skates.”

“Neither do I. They got too small on me. But we don’t need them here! We can slide around in our boots instead!”

“Will that work?”

“Yes,” Ruthie said firmly.

The two girls went around to the back of the school, where a pipe had broken the previous day. As Ruthie had expected, the flood of water that it had produced had frozen solid. They swept off the snow that now covered it with a broom that Kit swiped from the janitor’s closet. 

Ruthie ran onto the ice, the running start letting her slide until, unable to stop, her hands collided with the wall of the building. Kit joined her, running at the ice and sliding to a (slightly more graceful) stop next to her. 

Ruthie pushed off the wall and executed a spin, skirt and coat twirling out gracefully even as her arms were flailing for balance. Kit, on the other hand, shoved off and fell to her knees halfway to the other side of the rink. Ruthie pulled her up, giggling. 

Their cheeks were both rosy with cold, and as Ruthie caught Kit’s eye Kit, too, fell into laughter. Kit pushed off of her, tried again, and fell into a sort of rhythm — run-run-run, jump, slide, run-run-run, jump, slide. She could feel the roughness of the ice underneath her soles, and learned where the particularly bumpy patches were so they didn’t knock her off her feet mid-slide. She stuffed her hat and mittens into her pocket, warm with the exertion. 

Ruthie, too, found her pattern. She had less haphazard, arms flying running in it, but more grace — and more tricks. She managed to get a fairly consistent spin going. 

She called Kit over to spin with her, and the two girls grabbed hands. They tried to spin each other around, but with neither of them committing to be the lead in their dance, the rough ice and their boots, they ended up stumbling in a circle instead. 

Out of breath, they sat down against the school wall, taking in the snowy scene and their footprints on the imperfectly cleared ice. Kit leaned her head on Ruthie’s shoulder. Her hair tickled Ruthie’s neck, and Ruthie put her arm around Kit to pull her closer. Their heads resting together, they warmed each other, a protective bubble against the day’s chill. 

“This was a lot of fun, Ruthie. You had a really good idea.”

“And it was only fun because you came with me.”

A cool wind blew across the schoolyard, kicking up flurries of snowflakes. 

“It’s like it’s snowing again!” Kit said with delight.

“Yes. It’s wonderful to have a little bit more winter. I thought it was gone for the year.”

Kit put one of her bare hands into her coat pocket, and snuck the other into Ruthie’s glove. Ruthie pressed Kit’s cold hand to her chest, and the two girls sat together, watching the snow. 


End file.
